Recruiting persons (i.e., “candidates”) for membership, employment, or admission is a critical aspect to the success, image, and/or public perception of an organization or institution. The person, entity, or agent who seeks candidates directly, or, on the behalf of the organization, is typically referred to as a “recruiter.” Typically, information available to the candidate about the organization is conveyed by way of printed materials, video, film, or electronically, for example, by way of the Internet. On the other hand, information available to the organization/recruiter about the candidate is limited and typically conveyed by way of a resume, grade transcripts, one or more personal references provided by the candidate, background checks, and the like.
The Internet increases the reach and efficiency of an information seeker while decreasing the disseminating costs of the information provider. With respect to recruiting techniques, it is clear that both the organization/recruiter and candidate may mutually benefit by taking advantage of the Internet's capabilities of disseminating and receiving information, respectively.
Regarding, for example, the recruiting of student-candidates by educational institutions (e.g. universities), a fundamental aspect of the recruiting process is to provide the student-candidate with a sense of student life, campus atmosphere, and/or available social and/or internship/career experience offerings from surrounding communities. Prior to the existence of the Internet, a student-candidate could only obtain an understanding of the campus and surrounding communities through anecdotes of current- or former-students, pictures, articles, or personal visits, which may be inconvenient and costly especially if the student-candidate does not reside relatively close to the university.
By using the Internet, one may acquire a sense of a cityscape through three-dimensional, 360-degree panoramic photographs available from, for example, IPIX® of San Ramon, Calif. As more powerful computers are allowing greater dynamic informational content to be viewed by an end-user, the increasing capability of graphic processors have enabled a generation of hardware that can create photo-realistic computer-generated environments that may be provided over the Internet at the consumer level. Accordingly, one may take a virtual tour of a cityscape at his/her own convenience from any location, such as, for example, one's residence, a computer terminal kiosk, or the like.
Accordingly, although a three-dimensional, 360-degree visualization of an environment may be made available to, for example, a student candidate by way of the Internet using conventional means, such three-dimensional, 360-degree visualizations of an environment, such as, for example, a virtual university campus, are typically focused on the presentation of exterior spaces (i.e. a facade view, side-wall view, rear-wall view, or bird's-eye, overhead view of a house, building, courtyard, or the like). Additionally, known 360-degree visualizations, such as, for example, in an aircraft flight simulator, are made available to assess a person's physical dexterity; however, such physical dexterity assessments of a person interacting with a virtual environment do not necessary provide feedback regarding a person's mental dexterity (e.g. I.Q., social skills, “the drive to succeed,” and the like).
Additionally, it is also known that alumni are often solicited by their alma mater for financial gifts, and in return, the university often offers recognition for the gifts such as by naming a campus building in recognition of the donor. The university's solicitation methodology for securing a financial gift can often be a critical aspect of the of the university-donor relationship. Typically, if, for example, a building is to be constructed in the donor's name, the donor would like to “see ahead of time what they are paying for.” Accordingly, an in person, on-site meeting is typically conducted with the potential donor being present with one or more educational institution representatives along with architectural planners, landscape architects, sculptors, or the like to provide the potential donor with a sense of what a building, landscaping, signage, statue, or the will look like by viewing hand-drawn or computer-generated hardcopies of a building, landscaping, signage, statue, or the like. Such in-person meetings require careful planning, time, and money.
As such, there is a need to provide a candidate, such as, for example, a student candidate, with the ability to navigate through a three-dimensional, 360-degree visualization of, for example, a virtual environment, such as, for example, a university campus, while remotely interacting with, for example, interior spaces of a building, other potential participants in the virtual environment, and/or other interactive features provided in the virtual environment, such as, for example intellectual puzzles/problems that may assist a recruiter in assessing a candidate's mental dexterity relating to their qualifications for various positions (i.e. acceptance into an academic institution, employment or the like). Additionally, there is a need to provide more information about a candidate to a recruiter other than by conventional means and methodologies associated with resumes, personal references, background checks, and the like. Additionally, there is a need to provide an efficient methodology for soliciting and securing financial gifts from potential donors to an educational institution or other donor worthy organizations.